Wed Jan 30, 2013 at 11:02:13 AM EST

So glad to see Gabby Giffords testifying, she sounds great as far as I'm concerned! More importantly is the content of what she - and her husband Mark Kelly - has to say about preventing further gun violence. As for Wayne LaPierre, let's just say that I don't believe in hell, but if there IS a hell, LaPierre will some day be in the lowest level of it.

P.S. Why is it that there are three pro-gun people on this panel, only two pro-gun-control people? Also, is there anyone in the Senate more shrill and absurd than Lindsey Graham?

Why is it that about every pro gun person seems always angry? It must be tough being a gun nut when you have to be worried that everyone is out to get you.
I read an article in the Post several months ago where a gun owner said he felt safer taking his family to a restaurant in Fairfax with a concealed gun. I have dined in about 3/4 of the states one time or another and have never felt threatened.

portraying folks as "nuts" because they own and want to keep their guns. There are two guns in my house. There are utilitarian uses for guns. We use them at least a couple of times a year to kill a predator attacking our chickens or other domestic animals, or a ground hog trying to tear up our garden. I'm not a nut, and I wouldn't want to lose my access to these guns when I need them.

That said, I do believe we need gun safety. I see no need for AR-15s and their counterparts. I see no need for large ammunition clips. I see no reason that anyone who purchases a gun or ammunition should not have to go through a background check.

Painting gun owners with a broad brush, like the word "nuts" is wrong. We're not nuts because we have guns.

Isn't there some other way to protect your animals and garden than killing? I put chicken wire around my garden and it keeps out the ground hog and rabbits.
One of the problems with keeping control of pesky animals is killing the predators in the food chain. I read that one small animal the chipmunk is a greater carrier of deer ticks than deer. But, the fox which may control the number of chipmunks is being killed off.

is fenced. Fences work great for rabbits. Ground hogs dig under fences. And the foxes get into the fenced area around the chickens as well on occasion. Sometimes shooting the gun in the air is enough to scare them away, but if they start killing the chickens, they keep coming back. We also use repellents around the garden. Killing the predators isn't our first choice, but sometimes the necessary choice.

When people live in a more rural setting, guns can be utilitarian. When I lived in Amherst County, we had two guns in the house. The noise of shooting often scared off what people called "varmints," especially groundhogs.

That said, I can't see any of the proposals that harm the right to keep and bear arms. But, you are right. Calling gun owners "nuts" is no way to achieve sensible gun control measures.

I personally would also like to see laws that hold gun owners responsible if they do not secure their weapons in a safe manner. People taught to respect the power of guns should not object to keeping them under lock and key when not in use or to having trigger locks on stored weapons.

I was really thinking about people like the nra stooges when using the words gun nut, not responsible gun owners. But, it is frustrating when a lot of responsible owners throw in with the nra.
A fellow that I worked with voted against Jimmy Carter because someone told him that Carter was going to take his guns. There was no evidence what soever that Carter was even talking about gun control. Just about every democrat since has had that hung around their neck.

I was really thinking about people like the nra stooges when using the words gun nut, not responsible gun owners. But, it is frustrating when a lot of responsible owners throw in with the nra.
A fellow that I worked with voted against Jimmy Carter because someone told him that Carter was going to take his guns. There was no evidence what soever that Carter was even talking about gun control. Just about every democrat since has had that hung around their neck.

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